To be honest, I don't see this as ripoff, as lego refuses to make war stuff, Cobi filled in the gap and made sure to make it quality so it could max out profit, a smart financial decision
@@legobrickabrac wasnt that the sad direction all brands tried to go in, and tbh there not really focused on minifigs as much as they are towards their quality, PAD PRINTED bricks, something lego would never do for a cheap price.
@@modelbaumok9210 Actully 10 years ago China quolity was good but company's wanted the cheapest deal so compromised on plasic quolity. Chinies company's can make anything but they base what they make on what the customer will pay.
@@DrJakesVeryBritishReviews joking aside never owned Cobi but aware their quality is on par with anything, the website is amazing, I want them all, the biggest problem is needing to buy another house to display them all, great review BTW
@@b17marko you can also check out "cada' and "panlos" cada has remote controlled tiger/t90 and panlos got tanks like the maus.. currently doing the maus.. bricks tighter than legos so it wont fall apart
Cobi factory is in Poland. They use made in UE because many hate Polish and maaany dont know that Poland is in middle europe and is part of European Union.
Cobi has quite a history and I would have never expected them to break out internationally as a kid. In the 90s and early 2000s, it was a brand mostly exclusive to Poland and they made sets that were more of a straight up Lego clone (though pretty good quality-wise, compared to all the noname Chinese knockoffs). Even their minifigs had identical shape to Lego ones unlike the strange modern ones. I had tons of these bricks mixed in with real Lego that my parents couldn't always afford. They introduced Small Army in the early 2000s to fill a niche that Lego refuses to touch, and around the mid-00s they shifted their approach to have a different look from Lego with all the realistic shapes and smoothness as you see today, and went international. I'd say it's a success.
Fun fact about them they’re trying to pad print every set of them. I personally really like their sets! I’m sorry if my english isn’t very good. Im from the Netherlands.
Fun fact, I'm Polish so I've played with cobi for many many years so I can say cobi used to make more lego - like minifigures but in recent years as they grew more recognizable and less as a fake lego they switched to those more modeled figures and the plastic quality really went up (not saying it was too bad to begin with). All in all just some fun fact and me saying I'm proud to be polish because of this brand. Just a shame you haven't mention Cobi's official website for people in Europe to order from but I understand the sponsorship 😜 love the video tho!
I'd not heard of them before, looking at the site there are some nice realistic looking models. The only problem for me is that I haven't got the space for any. Great review👍🏻.
Maybe you've heard.... In the UK and other English-speaking countries, the brand used to be marketed as 'Character Building' in the past (initials were C.B., as in CoBi), but obviously not any more. Among others, they used to have a licence for Scooby-Doo sets BEFORE the Lego Group snatched it from them some 5 or 6 years ago.
I somewhat understand your pain. I have to move every 2-3 years and while my move is paid for it does come with a weight limit. I have so many books that every time I end up at a donation box dumping 2-300 dollars of books just to get their weight down to only one and a half times my furniture...
star wars? Ok, fantasy military, but it's even in the name! Then, the whole ninjago series is all about one big fight. Shows the level of bigotry lego is drowning in...
This is the first video I’ve watched of yours ever, it was recommended and you were not wrong in saying “very British reviews” as I felt like I was being spoken to about fine art or an aged wine. Very nice video friend
i have collected these since about 2013 and comparing my first set was a sherman and comparing the old models to the new ones they release today you can see the difference, most cobi sets can be displayed as they are flat on top with very few to no studs being visible. I do also own that £190 set and it amazing. also the proper name would be figures (figurki) or little men (ludziki) and they look like that becuse of a issue that they had with lego. I reccomend cobi sets they are very good for displays
I'm happy to see that you are so satisfied with a Cobi model :) I'm from Poland and while I mostly collect Lego sets (Technic), I received a Cobi Tank (T-34) as a gift about 3 years ago - now I have 5000+ pieces Cobi collection and a small WWII diorama :). I'm still collecting Lego but at the same time treat Cobi on the same level, both in terms of quality and pure joy. What is great about Cobi is that they are nicely priced - you do get a LOT for what you pay. The models are awesome to look at, and the quality is great - ie. all the tanks I have can easily roll on their threads even on flat slippery sufaces - there is little friction in the assembly Also, I have never experienced a missing piece in a Cobi set (I have about 25 of them, I can not say the same about Lego - had misprints and missing pieces in 150$+ sets), but I heard that the Cobi customer support is very good. I also like their minifigures (minidudes), they offer more poseability than Lego ones, as you can rotate the torso. They feel more appropiate to pose with weapons than Lego minifigs... If you want a Cobi set but hesitate - don't be afraid. Buy a Sherman Easy Eight model (2533) and see for yourself, it's a great model to start with.
I collected LEGO for the last 10 years, and I love LEGO still. I have a whole city block of the LEGO creative modular buildings, and I want more. But I recently discovered COBI sets, and they are just as quality and have better world war 2 models than even MOC ones built out of LEGO bricks (I used to be a LEGO purest). Got myself this spitfire and a bf 109 so far, now I want to move to tanks. SO ADDICTING!.
Never heard of them before this, but that looks pretty good, even to a hardcore Lego half Danish purist like myself whose uncle worked for Lego as an artist and as a musician at the Billund Legoland.
Cobi is more of a model building than Lego. The smaller sets often use larger form-pieces, the more expensive sets have a lot of prints and the parts hold together stronger (sometimes plastic-deformation stronger ^^). So if you like sets sets for "build once then display" there is nothing wrong with Cobi. If you are looking for more neutral/universal parts that can be constantly put together and disassembled while playing around, Cobi is not the best choice.
Agreed, why I set up my COBI sets to look at, but I play and move around my LEGO modular buildings and people a bit more. LEGO comes more easily apart.
Have you ever built one of those Airfix Quickbuild kits? I've just seen one, a Messerschmitt 109. Could do a review. Might be a good partner for your spit!
In the past cobi had worse quality comparable to knock off brands. They improved over time. As for the "minifigs", well they used to sell minifigures that look like Lego ones but they were sued by Lego and had to change them to what you have now in that set. Small Army line was their most sucessful theme that allowed Cobi to grow.
COBI's minifigures went through a lot of changes throughout the years. First figures I got had a completely unique design with universal joints in the shoulders and moulded hair detail on the heads. Later, the design was changed to basically a straight-up LEGO minifigure clone with the difference being in the heads having three-dimentonal sculpted details, like noses. Sometime in the early 2010s a brand new design was introduced, which mostly remains to this day. Here's a fun fact: COBI was also responsible for making Doctor Who sets, which were branded under the Character Building name. Unfortunately those sets were never released in Poland, most probably due to the lack of the show's popularity here.
Fun facts Cobi stopped copying Lego minifigs after 2012 when Lego won 3D protection for its minifig desighn covering EU and USA. Bestlock was the company who tried fighting Lego for the right to copy there minifig desighn and FAILED. Cobi bought out Bestlock and liquidated there assets.
My thin foil hat conspiracy theory is that Cobi actually is secretly owned by LEGO. I have a ton of Cobi stuff and its really great and very close in quality to LEGO. Since LEGO is said to not be willing to do war stuff, they do it tru Cobi.
Recently got into COBI myself and have to say I am very impressed. Not only with the sets which as you say fill a niche and are high quality, but with bricktanks, the uk supplier. There social media team and customer support team are always very friendly and the free next day shipping is nice too. Wholeheartedly recommend purchasing from them.
I just found your channel. Thank you. Based on this review, I found my favorite plane, the Dc-3/ C-47, is made by Cobi. Time to spend some money! These look fantastic!
A have a few cobi sets from a few years ago, they had some prints but not at this level, it was mostly stickers. It’s nice to see that they have started to do more printing
The quality of Lego alternatives are quite good these days. I am not sure how old you are, but I am 40 and I remember the absolute junk we would get back in the 90s. Back then the Lego alternatives were so poor in quality that you literally would not want to be seen dead with them (and by bad I mean REALLY bad). Today there are lots of good alternatives to Lego, including Loz and Cobi.
@@DrJakesVeryBritishReviews just thought I should pop back in and say that I bought some. I bought the spitfire and the Panzer III Ausf E and they are both amazing quality!
Hi there, we (my son and me) also discovered Cobi a few years ago. They're great for collectors but they're also toys, they can handle a rough play day on the floor or in the garden. My son really likes the Cobi Figures now. But he likes to switch heads, because you can fit a Lego head on a Cobi Body. Most Headparts also fit. Have a nice day and keep building👍
Just finished the COBI Bismarck model. 10/10 absolutely fantastic to build. Definitely one of my all time favourites. Can't believe how great it looks. ❤️
Top video mate! Hope you're keeping well🙂 Really great set, I might even order one! Quality product from Cobi, I think you could go without the little figure though.
@@DrJakesVeryBritishReviews well I agree 100% Doc, Cobi is a very good product. The bricks seem to be on par with Lego, but superior in the fact there be no stickers all printed very good Cobi. I had 1 part missing which is a let down (I know Lego can miss parts too). I do think to only similarity between Lego and Cobi starts and ends with the fact they are both brick models. The techniques Lego uses and the whole experience from product, design, echo system to the customer service experience is the best out there and no other company comes close to Lego in these areas Don't get me wrong I know Cobi isn't competing with Lego they are miles apart in the target audience. Wrapping my opinion up I'd say if you want anything military buy Cobi, it is the best boxed lego type product that I've found and it's not fake 😉 I built set 3040
Nice review. Peeping at clone brands is one of my guilty pleasures. Especially when the quality has come this far. This set reminds me of the 'Airfix Quickbuild D-Day Spitfire' but only more of a construction set :)
Great review. The only problem I had with Cobi was that back in the day (like 5 years ago or so) they used to release new versions of sets very quickly, like every half of a year there was a new version of a set. And the new version was always better than the previous one. So after buying three tiger tanks, two FW190s, two T34s, two Mitsubishi zeros, two Konigstigers, I kind od stopped buying and started waiting for some kind of an "ultimate edition". But I think they settled down a bit with the new versions nowadays. Also, they have a Sabaton (the band) tank which is hilarious :)
@@cWvp80GEDg I know. But in the video Jake mentions he will not come to your house if you buy Cobi. Logically that must mean he will come after me if I buy fake Lego. Since I want to meet Jake buying fake Lego is now my purpose. It is really not find explaining a joke. Did you get it now?
Bricktanks and Cobi are great; I can recommend purchasing Cobi sets from Bricktanks as I am a recent convert! Agree with all sentiments from this very good review.
I have two COBI sets and they are very nice. And a cool thing I accidently discovered was that the propeller actually starts to spin when the plane is moving relatively fast.
I also like how the Cobi sets have historical camouflages and stickers its very cool (not all Cobi sets come with stickers btw. Many of them have printed bricks but alot of sets do have stickers)
I LOVE cobi bricks Especially the top gun and wwii sets! They are just so high quality for an off brand lego company but I just love their sets so muuuuch!!!
I first saw COBI sets when I visited the British Tank Museum in Bovington. It does look like a quality product. But the figures look terrible in my mind. I'm very diehard Lego though and would not consider purchasing any other brick manufacturer product. As for Lego not making military sets. They did recently inadvertently they briefly made a Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey Technic set. Thinking it was a search and rescue vehicle. Sadly the set was cancelled because it looks like a really awesome set. Those people who own one have got themselves a Lego set worth its weight in gold quite literally.
To be honest Cobi is pretty good. It’s not like fake Lego brands and it’s definitely worth it. I’d compare it more to Mega Bloks which is like Lego’s cousin.
Cobi are also constantly updating their sets. There's been like 10 Tiger 1 tank models since I've started following them. Cobi has some sets with stickers, but they're slowly updating them to pad-printing. I bought their 1:300 scale Titanic and it's amazing and I really want the USS Enterprise CV-06, F-18 Hornet, and they're coming out with a F-14.
I collect both Cobi and Lego and yes the finish of Cobi sets does appear to shine more than Lego but I find it suits the plane and ship set builds very well. And Cobi used to use stickers but they listened to their customers feedback and introduced pad printing instead, a true sign of a company focused on satisfying the customer wants whereas the Lego founders words of only the best is good enough have been relegated to history and have just become meaningless words as they continue to ignore any feedback that they don't like
Bloody brilliant looking set this! I was very skeptical upon watching this video. Just had a little peruse of their website hoping and praying they didn't do any Volkswagen WW2 vehicles... Damn it, where's my credit card...
I agree about the COBI parts quality. I have some of their tanks and landscape sets and they were all great builds. As you say, the figures are a bit odd, but then Minifigures are pretty damn weird too. I've noticed that they tend to have more smooth surfaces and fewer studs visible on the builds.
Damn you Dr. Jake for mentioning Cobi! I have now built 13 Cobi sets and its hard for me to return to Lego. The last set I built was the Bismarck which is fantastic. All printing pieces (no sticker sheets) and incredible realistic details for less money than Lego 18+ sets.
I have a few of the tanks. I recommend the bovington tiger which is a really nice set and also the leopard . I also have the popular Corsair f4u aircraft
cobi, kazi etc. are great. Knockoffs exist that are direct copies of lego just rebranded. But cobi makes sets that is a different genre. They're known for military vehicles.
How is the quality of the plastic in the cobi sets? I had a few growing up and they were fairly brittle or had fitment issues as well a as lego bricks.
Thank you so much for this review and assuring new audiences to cobi~ I liked some of their stuff but I wasn't sure of the quality and build and brick-adhesion (too much disappointment from other brands.. T_T)
I got me son a set and i to thought the quality was quite good for the price,,but I never knew they had such a huge selection of sets available until watching this. Cobi defo jumped in to gap left by Lego. So fair play to them.
Nice review. I watched the double speed video of you putting it together in that bright light. Question though; when you say you built it in "The Dark"... LOL. Did you mean to use that word given the very bright light you worked in 🤣
Believe it or not, I did build 95% in dim light. For some reason the video picture was brighter than the room was - Also, I corrected the picture to match the 10 minutes of the build that took place during daylight.
